Heaven Casteel
'Heaven Leigh Casteel Tatterton Stonewall '''is the main protagonist of the Casteel series, and narrates the first three books of the series by V.C Andrews. She is the daughter of Leigh VanVoreen and Tony Tatterton, as well as the mother of Annie Stonewall. First Book. The first novel of the same name, Heaven, commences with Heaven and her family's pitiful struggle against poverty in the hills of the West Virginia mountains. Heaven, her father Luke Casteel, her stepmother Sarah Casteel, her four half brothers and sisters, Tom, Fanny, Keith, and Our Jane, and her grandparents live in a one-bedroom shack in the Willies, the mountains above the town Winnerow. Scorned by the people of the valley as being "hill-billies" and "hill scum", Heaven's pride remains intact, although she is wounded by her father, who ignores her as if she does not exist while lavishing attention on the other children. One night, Heaven's granny takes her to the graveyard and shows her a gravestone with the word "Angel" carved upon it. Heaven learns that the reason for her father's animosity is that her birth caused the death of her real mother, Luke's first wife, whose real name was Leigh VanVoreen, but everybody in the Willies called her 'Angel'. Granny then presents Heaven with her mother's valuable heirloom suitcase, which contains her mother's rich clothes, the like of which Heaven has never seen, and what soon becomes Heaven's most prized possession, a portrait doll that was modeled after her mother. The doll's face is a mirror of Heaven's, except that the doll has silvery blond hair. Heaven flourishes into a gifted student, and she and Tom treasure books and excel in English. Fanny, however, is more interested in boys than books, and acts up with Heaven, constantly reveling in their father's attention. But it is when Heaven meets and captures the heart of Logan Stonewall that Fanny really begins to cause trouble. She always wants what Heaven has, and this becomes a reoccurring theme in their relationship. Logan and Heaven become childhood sweethearts and pledge their hearts and lives to each other. However, Logan is the son of the local pharmacist, and his wealthy mother scorns Heaven as an ignorant hillbilly. After the premature death of Sarah and Luke's fifth child, Heaven's grandmother passes away, causing her grandfather to become senile. Sarah falls into a deep post-natal depression and then disappears, leaving a cryptic note that seems to indicate suicide. The children are left to fend for themselves when their father abandons them as well. Heaven becomes a surrogate mother, skipping school in order to take care of her brothers and sisters, insisting that they attend school even if she cannot. When Luke returns, he brings the devastating news that he is ill (probably from some sort of STD) and that he plans to sell his children for $500 apiece on Christmas Day in order to fund his treatment. Heaven watches heartbroken as her family is split up and sold off. Keith and Our Jane are sold to a wealthy-looking couple, which gives Heaven some comfort as Jane is very attached to Keith. Fanny is sold to the town pastor, Reverend Wise. Tom is sold to farmer, Buck Henry. Heaven is sold to Kitty and Cal Dennison, who live in Candlewick, a sub division in Atlanta. Separated from her siblings and her beloved Logan, Heaven soon realizes that she has been bought as a slave for Kitty, who detested Heaven's mother for marrying Luke, as she was in love with him. After aborting his baby, she discovered she was unable to have any more children and therefore bought Heaven as some sort of twisted revenge against her father. Kitty abuses Heaven physically and emotionally, even scalding her in a burnin- hot bath to "cleanse" her of her hillbilly dirt, and burns the beloved portrait doll of her mother. Despite all this, Heaven finds some comfort in her relationship with Cal. Cal lavishes attention on Heaven, buying her clothes, and treating her to all she has been denied in her deprived upbringing, such as films and fine restaurants. Vulnerable and longing for a father figure, Heaven laps up this attention, and is unable to defend herself when Cal's attentions become sexual. When Kitty becomes seriously ill, he seduces Heaven. She is shamed and devastated, blaming herself for what happened, unable to understand why he did this. When Cal announces that they are returning to Winnerow so a dying Kitty can see her parents, she seizes the opportunity to see Logan. However, when she confesses what happened, he runs from her leaving her alone in the world. Heaven is temporarily reunited with Tom, Fanny, and her Grandpa, but, still bitter and hateful, she avoids her father. Upon Kitty's death, Cal abandons her, and she boards a plane for Boston to find her maternal grandparents. Second Book Upon arriving in Boston, Heaven meets Jillian Tatterton, her wealthy grandmother, and her second husband who is 20 years her junior, Tony Tatterton. Tony was Leigh's stepfather, and Heaven is grieved to learn that her real father died several years earlier. The couple take Heaven to Tony's ancestral home, Farthinggale Manor, the enormous estate that her mother ran from. Heaven is shocked and deeply hurt to learn however, that her grandparents only expect her for a short visit. Heaven feeds them lies about her mother, including that she didn't give birth to Heaven straight away, but that her parents were married for a year before her birth. Heaven is well accommodated,and resides in the suites that were her mother's. Heaven begins to delve into her mother's past,and comes face to face with a piece of her past when she meets Troy Tatterton, Tony's younger brother who lives in the cottage behind the English maze when Heaven becomes lost in the maze. Heaven is immediately attracted to the handsome and talented Troy, yet is at first reluctant to let Heaven into his life, yet she pressures him into letting down his wall of hostility despite Tony ordering her to stay away from him. Heaven learns that he was three and her mother was twelve when they first met, and Leigh was like an older sister to him. Troy and Heaven eventually become lovers, and Heaven forgets Logan as she discovers her passion and love for Troy are stronger than what she had felt for Logan. Troy soon reveals to her, however, that he has premonitions, and dreams that reveal to him that he will not live much longer, and he has no reason to doubt them since all his past dreams have come true, including his dream of Leigh's death. Deeply disturbed but unwilling to lose him, Heaven persuades him to marry her. The two are happy for a brief time until Troy's detective agency locates Keith and Our Jane. Heaven rushes to 'save them' when Troy becomes ill and wishes her to go on and find them, only to discover once she is there that they no longer need her and that they love their adoptive parents when they deny knowing her. Devastated, she goes to Fanny, who spitefully convinces her to go to Winnerow to get back her baby Darcy that she sold to the Reverend Wayland Wise who adopted her and raped her. Heaven reluctantly agrees but discovers it is a mistake and impossible once she is there. Once in Winnerow, Heaven runs into Cal, who again bombards her with his needs and wants, and tries to force himself on her. Heaven however, disillusions him and pushes him pot of her life forever. Decided on going to find her grandfather in their old cabin, Heaven gets caught in a storm between Winnerow and the Willies, only to be discovered by Logan who finds Heaven's car broken down on the highway, and takes her to the cabin. Heaven ,however, returns only to discover the money she has been sending her grandfather had been put towards restoring the cabin and it is now an adequate home. As the storm becomes more violent, Heaven comes down with the same illness as Troy. Stuck with no one but Logan to look after her, Heaven submits to his efforts to help her. She dreams of Troy, and in her desperation to get back to him she shouts at Logan to let her contact him. Logan grows jealous and angry, confessing he still loves her and wants her back. When the storm clears and Heaven recovers, she returns to Troy, only to be encountered by Tony who confesses he was pleased by her upcoming marriage to Troy, but that now he cannot let it go ahead. A devastated Heaven forces the truth from him, and he reveals that the reason her mother fled from Farthingale Manor was that he fell in love with her and raped her, and that he discovered from Troy that Heaven was really a year older than she first pretended, and thereby, he is her father. Heartbroken that Troy is her uncle and she cannot marry him, Heaven goes to confess the truth to him, but upon seeing him, she cannot do it. Yet Jillian had revealed the truth to him, having known it all along, and in order to protect Heaven, Troy leaves his home leaving her a letter insisting that she go to Jillian and hear the whole truth. Heaven goes to Jillian's suite, and in revealing and finally accepting the truth, Jillian falls into insanity. Heaven leaves Farthingale Manor to escape the memories of all she has lost, yet upon her retur,n she learns that Troy's prophecy has indeed come true. He killed himself as he was unable to live without her. Devastated, Heaven once again flees to Winnerow, this time to confront her father who has again married and has another son, Drake. Her beloved brother Tom is living with him, and both work at the circus. Heaven is appalled at Tom's willingness to give up his dreams in order to help their father attain his, and as revenge for all he has done she dyes her hair blond, the same shade as her mothers, puts on one of her mothers old dresses, and approaches her father when he is lion taming at the circus. Luke believes his Angel has come back to him, and when he drops his gun, the lion mauls and kills Tom. Blaming herself, she returns to the cabin to become a teacher at the Winnerow school, to pass on her love of books to those in the same position she was. She acknowledges that she will eventually become Logan's wife, as the waters have stilled between them. Heaven and Troy Troy and Heaven became lovers and intended to marry. Their happiness was cut short, however, when Tony revealed they were, in fact, uncle and niece, as he had raped Heaven's mother, and was, in fact, Heaven's father. Devastated, Heaven went on to marry Logan Stonewall when she believed Troy had died, yet upon his return they had one more night together, resulting in the birth of their daughter Annie. Troy and Heaven never saw each other again, and when she died and was buried on the Farthingale estate, Troy was seen by his daughter as a ghost figure who visited Heaven's grave and wept for his lost love. Third Book Heaven, who is now fully grown and living in Winnerow, working as an elementary school teacher. She began dating her High School sweetheart, Logan Stonewall, again, shortly after returning from Farthingale Manor, after Troy’s subsequent death. Logan eventually proposes to Heaven, and she feels compelled to invite her biological father, Tony Tatterton to the wedding. Thanks to Logan’s correspondence with Tony, they end up having the wedding reception at Farthingale Manor. Heaven is sad to learn that Luke will not be able to attend the wedding, and heartbroken that Tom is not there. After the wedding, it doesn’t take long for Tony to convince Logan into doing business at Tatterton Toys and starting up a factory in Winnerow. Tony also subdues Logan and Heaven into residing at Farthingale Manor. Heaven agrees, much to her dismay. Logan spends most of his time in Winnerow, setting up and building the new Tatterton factory. While he is away, Heaven begins exploring once condemned parts of Farthingale Manor. During one of her exploits, Heaven discovers her uncle and former lover, Troy, still alive and residing in the cottage behind Tony’s home, even though Tony had told her that Troy had drowned. Tony had originally believed that Troy had committed suicide, but in fact, Troy had faked his death in order to give Heaven and Logan a chance to be happy without the burden of having him in the picture. He only recently had told Tony that he was alive. Troy explains that he returned to Farthingale Manor to find her, only to arrive and see her getting married to Logan. In a night of forbidden love, they have one last night before Troy leaves Farthingale Manor for good. Heaven feels guilty about her one night with Troy but soon discovers her husband shares a similar indiscretion with Heaven's sister Fanny while he was away. Heaven is impregnated by her encounter with Troy, and Fanny by her encounter with Logan. In time Heaven forgives Logan for this but vows to never tell him about her night with Troy. Soon, Luke Casteel and his third wife Stacie are killed in a car accident, and Heaven and Logan take custody of Drake. After Luke and Stacie's funeral, Heaven takes Drake back with her to Farthy. Her grandmother Jillian dies. After Jillian's funeral, Heaven finds an agreement between Luke and Tony stating that Luke will never see Heaven again, and in exchange, Luke will keep ownership of his circus. Heaven is upset to learn that Luke had "sold" her once again. Tony begins acting strangely towards Heaven, confusing her with her mother Leigh, and even tries to rape her. Fanny also tries to get custody of Drake and seems sure to at the custody hearing where Tony reveals himself to be Heaven's father, not Luke Casteel. This means Heaven is not a blood relation to Drake, whereas Fanny is. Heaven asks Fanny to give her custody of Drake in return for a million dollars, and after a heated argument, Fanny agrees, and Drake is returned to Heaven and Logan. After a while, Heaven and Fanny give birth. On the same day. Heaven gives birth to a girl, and Fanny a boy. Fourth Book Heaven and Logan have been married for 20 years and Heaven's daughter, Annie grows up not knowing that Logan is not her father, but Troy Tatterton is. Annie is in love with her half-brother/cousin Luke Casteel Jr, but both knowing that they are related (although they are not, which they find out at the end) they can't have a relationship. At Fanny's 40th birthday party, Logan gets drunk and flirts with her and then he, Heaven and Annie leave the party. On their way home, they are in a serious car accident, killing both Logan and Heaven and leaving Annie an orphan and temporary cripple. Relationships Fanny Casteel The relationship Heaven had with her sister was a difficult one, as Heaven was jealous of the relationship Fanny had with their father, and Fanny was jelous of everything Heaven had; her relationship with their brother Tom, her relationship with their younger brother and sister, and most of all, her relationship with Logan Stonewall. Heaven hated it how Fanny would go to the boy's locker rooms and use her promiscuous behavior on them. It only got them both in trouble. When Logan came to Winrow town, Fanny was doing whatever she could to get him away from Heaven, going so far as to take off all her clothing by the stream in front of Logan and only wearing her Granny's shawl's at her home when Logan was over. Fanny did, however, assist Heaven and their brother steal food when they were starving to death after their mother had disappeared. When Keith and Our Jane were sold, the made an "unbreakable" vow with Fanny broke after being sold to Reverend Wise and his wife. Heaven saw her sister many years later, but they had an argument and Fanny slammed the door in Heaven's face. A few hours later, Heaven sees Fanny with Tom at the airport. Fanny reveals she is pregnant with the Reverend's child and when it's born, she'll "sell" it to the reverend and his wife for ten thousand dollars. While staying at Farthinggale Manor, Heaven receives a phone call from Fanny about the birth of her daughter. Heaven tries to convince Fanny not to sell the baby and come to Bosten to stay in a motel or rooming house, this leads to a heated argument before Fanny slams the phone down without saying goodbye. Heaven also meets Fanny in Nashville. They have an argument and Fanny admits to Heave that no one wants her because they were all after Heaven. Even their father, who Fanny wanted to go live with, kept asking about Heaven when she called him. Fanny and Heaven had a heated argument when Drake's custody trial began, after the argument, Fanny agrees to give Drake to Heaven in exchange for a million dollars. Fanny was very upset when Heaven died and took over her house and servants, but whether Heaven left Fanny in her will is not clearly stated. Trivia Tom is four months younger than Heaven, that would mean Luke cheated on Leigh with Sarah. Ruby Landry, like Heaven Casteel, she also never knew her mother Gabrielle Landry due to her mother's death by childbirth. In [[Gates of Paradise|''Gates of Paradise]], Fanny takes over Heaven's house and servant's. But weither Heaven actually leaves Fanny in her will is unknown. Heaven could have simply left Fanny the house until her daughter Annie was old enough to own it. Dawn Longchamp was the result of a rape under similar circumstances. but unlike Heaven, Dawn never met her biological father. Category:The Casteel Series Category:The Casteel Family Category:Heaven Casteel